Tuesday's Meetings Catterick Flat 8 Races 1:00-4:40p.m. Leicester Flat 7 Races 1:10-4:20p.m. Goodwood Flat 7 Races 1:50-5:07p.m. Galway(E) Flat 8 Races 3:55-7:30p.m. Windsor(E) Flat 7 Races 4:15-7:15p.m. Racecards At The Races Sporting Life Racing Post Good Luck
The 2.25 Goodwood sees Rock Melody a warmish favourite. The Fascinating Rock filly won well on debut but seemed out of her depth next time out when 10th in a Listed Race. Not beaten that far though and it was enough to earn an official rating of 84, which is pretty solid in terms of the Class 4 Novice company she finds herself in today. More of a concern is her most recent effort, which was in a Class 5 Novice at Windsor, where she was beaten into second place as the 10/11 Fav and it resulted in a downgrade of her OR to 82. That still makes her the one to beat on form but penalised 4 lbs she seems tight at 5/4 Fav. Piffle is also penalised after a win which followed a debut 7th. That looked a poor race she won and it wasn't much of an improvement from her debut. That win was in the farcical Windsor race where seven runners were pulled out and left a field of four. Piffle won by a short head and the race has worked out terribly since. She is easily passed over for me and I would far rather go with the Haggas newcomer Caryatid. Caryatid is by Intello, out of Spacious and she is a full sister to Gabr, who was Listed class for Michael Stoute. Likely to be better with time, I felt it worth chancing Caryatid in a race where she would not need to be special to win but will have to possess a shade of quality even allowing for the 4 lbs she gets from the winners. Rather than thump into the Fav at 5/4, I took 9/2 on the Haggas runner, with the stable churning away at 29%. 2.25 Goodwood Caryatid 9/2
The Queen's Educator was of interest last time making his debut with a few Group entries to his name. He had a bad day at the office though, coming 12th of the 14 runners and beaten a shade over 14 lengths. He goes again at Goodwood today and lies second favourite for a Class 2 Maiden. The son of Deep Impact is entitled to come forward from his first run but at 7/2 today I think he is way skinny on what he has actually achieved. The horse who won Educator's debut race was beaten as 8/11 Fav next time out but although there have been some winners from the race, it was not inspiring stiff, with New Kingdom scrambling home as 1/2 Fav next time. Electress was 7th on debut and like Educator she can be expected to improve today. That looked a weak contest she was in when 8 lengths in arrears and the runner up, Park Street, was beaten as an odds-on favourite next time. By Galileo out of Irish Guineas winner Just The Judge, Electress is well bred and makes more appeal than Educator based on form shown thus far but it still looks flimsy for a horse priced at 9/2. Inverness made a similar debut to the aforementioned when 6th and as a 110,000 Guineas son of Highland Reel you would think there is improvement in him. A more appealing price at 9/1 but I am not a big fan of Charlie Hills and it is hard to escape the fact that the sire has done very little thus far, with his best progeny rated 80 after seven career starts. Suzy's Shoes was down the field on debut but reared as the stalls were opening and was slowly away. She could do better as a daughter of Nathaniel but I thought 6/1 was tight for a filly with improvement required. Sea King sets the standard. He improved a fair bit from a modest debut when 3rd next time out and is of some appeal at 7/2 considering how much he is ahead of Educator on form thus far. He stayed on into the placings last time and looked as if staying was going to be his game. His Racing Post Rating of 78 leaves him vulnerable though and he is drifting quite badly this morning. I thought the play might be the Mark Johnston newcomer Pons Aelius, a 95,000 Guineas son of Galileo out of Laugh Out Loud, who won a French Group 2 for Mick Channon, he would not need to be overly talented to make a winning debut. With De Sousa on board, I decided to play him at 9/2 and have a saver FC with Sea King. 2.55 Goodwood Pons Aelius 9/2 SF Sea King/Pons Aelius
Two real duffers today but that's the gamble with unraced horses. It's hard to believe trainers can send out horses who look totally talentless/clueless. Only myself to blame for trusting Mark Johnston. The stable are going pretty well at the moment but I reckon Star Rage was the last Johnston horse I backed that actually won (28th August 1995 Newcastle 10/1) Pons Aleius was never going to update that stat today and seemed hopeless. As ever, the trainer wins the next two races on the card to rub the salt in. To answer Bustino, I don't really feel Educator should have won. Inverness finished over the top of them and seemed to win fair and square. The Haggas colt ran much better today and after getting the better of Sea King he couldn't quite repel all of those who were finishing from off the pace. Sea King had drifted alarmingly to 5/1 and I was actually tempted to switch to him but it didn't matter, as he finished 5th in the end, probably running to the same sort of level as last time. Electress also ran a good bit better than last time today. This was much more like you would expect from her pedigree and I could see her co tinuing to build from this race. I was on the verge of selecting Inverness at 9/1 purely because I felt that he held a similar chance to some of the shorter priced ones. I reckon this probably makes him Highland Reel's best progeny but he has a long way to go to match his sire's exploits. They finished in a heap and I doubt Educator will be lining up in Group races this season. Ironically, I spent a week in Inverness last year having a toe amputated and angioplasty on my left leg. I should have crafted a preview about Inverness having too much toe for the others today. Caryatid was Donald Ducked about five seconds after the stalls opened. There was no indication that she had ever had a jockey on her back before today. She ran the way Educator did on his debut and will need to find a hell of a lot more in a hurry. Two furlongs into the race I did a quick tot on the Abacus to confirm that she actually had four legs but my ticket was already keeping a Pepsi can company in the bin by that stage. I had come to the race to oppose Rock Melody and that filly was heartily disappointing at a shade of odds-on. I was surprised to see Piffle win this after such s terrible race she seemed to land last time out. I doubt that Rock Melody got close to her 82 OR today and suspect Piffle may have won this with a run less than 80. Oh well, two original favourites were taken on and both were unplaced. Sadly, two dire efforts from the selections.
Abroad, so can't see the race so listened to the commentary. The 'experts' felt Marquand rode an ill-judged race using him up too much and committing to his run too early. You are probably right. Big improvement but he's no star, it appears.
I see Michael Stoute's Invigilate won today at Leicester. This was the first time she had run without the burden of my cash and must have been equivalent to a 10 lb allowance. No real price today though at 13/8 I can only conclude that the "Experts" were talking bollocks. Educator had a fairly sustained battle with Sea King at the head of affairs. It was ding-dong for long enough and the jockey was doing all he could to get the better of a fight that looked like it could go either way at one stage. Sea King did not yield until quite late and by that time the closers were coming. What was Marquand supposed to do, with so little of the race still to be run? Educator actually looked booked for 4th at one stage, with Electress and Suzy's Shoes briefly heading him narrowly before he rallied to get up for second again at the line. That doesn't tie in with a horse who was over-used and was dying in front.
I thought it was poorly judged and if he’d ridden a more even race the result would have been different.
On screen sectionals read 1 f - 14.71 2 - 11.9 3 - 12.25 4 - 11.75 5 - 11.45 6 - 11.47 7 - 11.99 8 - 12.63 which suggests they went too hard. Especially when the 2 milers did the last furlong in 12.05 for comparison
